Fertile Black Soil Dialogue

The Afro-Ecology Movement Background: Portland African American Leadership Forum (PAALF) and Africa House partnered on a joint process to build a relevant and just eco-movement for their respective and collective communities in Portland, Oregon.

PAALF and Africa House hosted a 3-part dialogue series focused on deep culture and story sharing that facilitates relationship building between African-American and African immigrant communities. We engaged in a healing process from the trauma caused by colonialism, slavery, and environmental racism that has disconnected us from our ancestral relationship with nature.

We have always been people of the land, of the earth. From the fertile black soil of our culture, history, and spirit, many great things have come to be. When this connection is activated, the question is how can these ancestral memories rebuild our connection to land and nature and help us to see who we can become?

Dialogue Days:

Day 1: Our Shared History

Together, African and African American community members retraced their shared origin stories from the mother continent. By exploring the relationship that nature has had in developing community and cultural identity, we cultivated a collective memory.

Day 2: The Struggle/The Resistance

Colonialism, slavery, and ongoing environmental racism have impacted our close relationship to land and one another. We explored what is common and unique in our acts of resistance and our resilience in the face of these challenges.

Day 3: The Vision

To see the future of who we can become, we must know who we are today, and where we have come from. We built upon our stories of identity, culture, and community, and defined for ourselves what community looks like when we integrate a spiritual relationship to land and nature and one another.